Make Your T-Shirt Packaging Memorable

When you ship out shirts to your customers, it’s your last chance to make a positive, professional and lasting impression. Beyond the obvious – shipping good product that’s neatly folded and arrives without being all beat up – there’s a lot you can do to go above and beyond and make your customer’s purchasing experience truly memorable. This in turn increases the chance they’ll buy again, or recommend your shop to a friend.

To help you get started (and inspired) we’ve compiled a list of tips (with links for resources) for packaging your tees and some samples of really remarkable stuff that other folks have done.

Tips for shipping your shirts in style:

Invest a few extra bucks in plastic bags to individually package your t-shirts. This looks especially pro when you are shipping multiple tees out to a customer.

Order some hang tags to attach to each shirt. Some of the most memorable shirts I’ve received had tags that are as well designed as the graphics on the tees themselves. Put your company name, website URL, and some amazing artwork on your tag. There will be people who keep them just because they look cool.

Throw in a few stickers (here or here), buttons, or other trinkets with each order. These are cheap to produce in bulk, make sweet little freebies, and are great for promotion if they are cool enough that people will use them. Don’t mention it on your website – just do it without saying anything and be a hero.

Find a way to say THANK YOU. Whether it’s a hand written note, or a pre-printed message, let your customer know you really do appreciate their order.

Include a coupon code good on your customer’s next purchase. Many big-boy retail shops follow this policy to lure shoppers back and turn them into repeat buyers. Even if it’s just 10% off an order, you can easily increase your chances of getting that next purchase.

Really Creative Packaging Ideas

Of course, one of the best ways to stand out is to make your actual packaging unique. If you’re on a budget, just getting some pre-printed mailers is a great way to start. But here’s a few examples of some out-of-the-world packaging to inspire you:

Johnny Cupcakes is a juggernaut in the world of established t-shirt brands. Their packaging, and this is just one example, is always creative. (via lovely package)

Oddica has been around forever, and has always had custom printed flexible shipping bags. The design has changed over the years, but the branding is always consistant. (via notcot)

Butchrd Apparel, who we’ve featured before, actually packs their tees in styrofoam meat cases. The idea is perfectly inline with the concept behind their line which is an example of really smart marketing and branding.

Here’s another example of packaging matching up to the brand. Creative + cheap + easy to pull off = a true winner. (via flickr. ldandersen)

Some interesting advice there. Hmmm, plastic wrapping each shirt isn’t particularly impressive, and it’s wasteful. If I got a shirt in wrapping, I would either not care, or find it a nuisance. Also, some of that “smart marketing” packaging is just a bit much. Don’t go overboard.

Some interesting advice there. Hmmm, plastic wrapping each shirt isn’t particularly impressive, and it’s wasteful. If I got a shirt in wrapping, I would either not care, or find it a nuisance. Also, some of that “smart marketing” packaging is just a bit much. Don’t go overboard.

Some interesting advice there. Hmmm, plastic wrapping each shirt isn’t particularly impressive, and it’s wasteful. If I got a shirt in wrapping, I would either not care, or find it a nuisance. Also, some of that “smart marketing” packaging is just a bit much. Don’t go overboard.

We started to poly bag our shirts. It ads about $.25 to have our screen printer fold and bag the t’s, but it’s worth it in the long run. We haven’t tried adding the coupon in the order, so that’s a great idea! Thanks for the post!

We started to poly bag our shirts. It ads about $.25 to have our screen printer fold and bag the t’s, but it’s worth it in the long run. We haven’t tried adding the coupon in the order, so that’s a great idea! Thanks for the post!

We started to poly bag our shirts. It ads about $.25 to have our screen printer fold and bag the t’s, but it’s worth it in the long run. We haven’t tried adding the coupon in the order, so that’s a great idea! Thanks for the post!

@Aaron – I’ve received some packages were the shirts are just all thrown in there crazy like or have tons of dust on them from the packaging. I’m not sure it’s about impressing as much as it is about making sure your shirt stays put and stays clean.

@Aaron – I’ve received some packages were the shirts are just all thrown in there crazy like or have tons of dust on them from the packaging. I’m not sure it’s about impressing as much as it is about making sure your shirt stays put and stays clean.

nice post, will def consider adding coupon codes to orders going fwd. at holstee we're using a fulfillment center, they required that each shirt be individually wrapped… we were bummed b/c this meant an additional layer of packaging / waste… so we did a little research and found ended up using bags from a company called http://www.poopbags.com … they're bags are inexpensive, completely biodegradable / made from renewable resources + can ultimately be reused by our customer for their original purpose… to pick up after their dogs.

Yeah I’ve been using coupons for next orders for a few years now and it helps out quite a bit on repeat orders. Also Stickers are a must. People will put them on their cars, kids will stick them to their binders at school and for every person who uses one of your sickers, it’s just more exposure to your company. Thanks for the article.

i have had this page bookmarked for a couple years and always refer to it haha. the meat packaging is super great. anyways i needed custom outdoor silkscreen stickers so i finally used sticker robot. super amazing quality. thanks for the reference!